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[Wooster]

Thought I'd toy with hacking the Kindle since it seems pretty straight forward (and safe).
I wasn't looking for anything fancy, just using my own screensavers was the only justification I needed.
(Note: You will see some references to 3.2.1 Kindle firmware, but most of us will be on v3.1. The 3.2.1 firmware is for a sponsored version of the Kindle that has adverts sent to it, as far as I can make out.)

If that's all you want to do it's pretty straight forward.
First off you need to to is apply the jailbreak update, which can be found here:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88004
Note: All the hacks are reversible since the unistallers are also included with the installation files. 

The kindle-jailbreak-0.9.N.zip file contains all versions.
I have a standard WiFi only one, so I just need to dump the update_jailbreak_0.9.N_k3w_install.bin file onto the root of the Kindle (via USB) and then upgrade the firmware [Menu>Settings>Menu>Upgrade]
(k3gb is for the Kindle 3 with 3G)

Once it's rebooted, you need to bung on the hack for changing the screensavers, which I got from here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/37424/jailbreak-your-kindle-for-dead-simple-screensaver-customization/
Same as before, all version are in the one .zip fil. In my case I needed the update_ss_0.20.N_k3w_install.bin
Update/reboot the kindle same as before and now you will see a new folder named linkss, this is where all the screensavers go. (the old ones (in .gif format) are in a folder called backups)

A quick word on the format:
All screenies are 600 wide by 800 tall in 8 bit grayscale, and you should save them as .PNG's.
There's a pile of pre made ones here:
http://kindlewallpapers.tumblr.com/archive

All you do is drop your new screenies into the linkss/screensavers folder and reboot for them to take effect.
Note: For it to randomly select images you need to create a file called random without a file extension in the linkss folder. So make sure you have Show File Extensions enabled, create a text file called random.txt then remove the .txt bit.

If you want to go a bit fancy and add the 'Slide Power To Wake' bit to the bottom of the images, then this bloke has written a wee Photoshop batch file you can use.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108068

Seemples.  

[Roscop]

Just to confirm it works and I didnt break mine 

Wont be long until you can read Epub formats on the Kindle without converting first.

[Wooster]

This is my favourite so far..



 

The Portal one isn't bad either:

[Stevie]

changing the screenie was always a wish of mine.

Might get photoshop out and try and knock something up as well.

[Thermalsig]

Cool. Time to muck up the wife's Kindle. No issues, I have the Fire on pre order. That will get Linux hacked fo sure,

[Wooster]

Been mucking around with Photoshop myself.

When you hit Save For Web & Devices and select File Format PNG-8 (Greyscale), change the amount of 'Colours' to 16 (the Kindle 3 supports 16 shades of grey). 

[Wooster]

I have a shed load of Calvin & Hobbes stuff and I've been playing around with Landscape or Portrait images to see what works the best.

Stacked strips in portrait mode is a bit of a strain on the eye, so I've tried three stacked in Landscape here:



(Forum image appears larger than it is on the Kindle)

So I'll try two stacked in Landscape next.  

[Roscop]

Were you watching what I was doing today. I had the exact same thought about comic strips as screen savers

[Wooster]

 

Dilbert's nowhere near as cool as Calvin & Hobbes though.

(Colour strips will take a bit of tweaking though, won't they. The dithering can look a bit rough at times.. )

i.e.

[keasy]

TBH I wasn't that fussed about doing this.

My Kindle is in a wallet so the screen saver is rarely seen. I open the wallet slide and release then read.

But this pic has tempted me to do it...

[corroded]

Hah, yeah, that'd be worth it!

I very rarely change my desktop background (stylised Lancia Stratos at the moment)... but the "Oh the Huge Manatee" took over for a while, such was it's excellence.

[keasy]

 

I rarely change my DT either. It only tends to happen when I take a particular photo of the kids that I like more than the current DT.

Yes, 40 something+fatherhood+wife+mortgage= Kids as desktop background.

[BarrieB]

My desktop wallpaper is a vampire (well it's nearly Halloween) http://bikiniwallpapers.com/view/02-800x600.html

Lin turned the machine on the other day & said what's that - She's so shortsighted that she didn't see the teeth.

[Wooster]

What teeth?